Metamorphosis

IMpumelelo Samantha Maseko's work looks at the complexity of black femininity and identity. She unearths and challenges aspects of blackness clothed in the female form - whether by interrogating hair, skin colour or the sexualization of the black body.. There is a single constant present throughout her many body of work and mediums, and that is a need to present blackness as aesthetically pleasing.

She believes that black history carries so much generational trauma and that we have so much to offer besides content showing black people as victims of abuse, more and more people are becoming educated and aware of the black essence and Samantha’s "Crowning Glory" body of works is an anthem dedicated to reclaiming that essence. Maseko depicts hair in a golden crown-like Nigerian hairstyle called “threading” or a Golden afro because she believes that our hair is a strong symbol of our identity as it represents our skin colour, our bodies, our names, our cultural backgrounds & where we come from. Maseko’s portraits of black women with no background/ plain background command women to take up space and be unapologetic about the way they wear their hair, the shade of their skin, the way they pronounce their African names and their cultural backgrounds.